Six out of seven accused convicted in Kathua rape & murder case

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Pathankot District and Session Court today convicted six people accused in the rape and murder of an eight-year-old nomadic girl in Kathua in Jammu and Kashmir. A seventh accused, Vishal, who is the son of main accused Sanji Ram, was acquitted. The quantum of punishment will be announced later today.The in-camera trial in the case that shook the nation ended on June 3. 

According to the 15-page charge sheet, the eight-year-old girl, who was kidnapped on January 10 last year, was allegedly raped in captivity in a small village temple in Kathua district after having been kept sedated for four days before she was bludgeoned to death.

The day-to-day trial commenced in the first week of June last year at the district and sessions court in Pathankot in neighbouring state of Punjab,  after the Supreme Court ordered that the case be shifted out of Jammu and Kashmir.

Those convicted are Sanji Ram, the village head, his juvenile nephew Anand Dutta and two special police officers Deepak Khajuria and Surender Verma. Also convicted are Head Constable Tilak Raj and sub-inspector Anand Dutta, who allegedly took four lakh rupees from Sanji Ram and destroyed the crucial evidence.

 The eight-year-old girl, who was kidnapped on January 10 last year, was allegedly raped in captivity in  Rasana village in Kathua district after having been kept sedated for four days before she was strangulated to death. 

The day-to-day trial commenced in the first week of June last year at the district and sessions court in Pathankot in neighbouring state of Punjab, after the Supreme Court ordered that the case be shifted out of Jammu and Kashmir. 

Meanwhile, the situation in Rasana village of Kathua district is  normal  as authorities had made elaborate security arrangements to deal with any law and order situation  in the  wake of the verdict in the rape and murder case.